Barriers to the adoption of ventilator-associated events surveillance and prevention.

The CDC expanded the purview of safety surveillance for ventilated patients from ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) to ventilator-associated events (VAE) in 2013. CDC created VAE definitions to simplify surveillance, increase objectivity, and broaden prevention efforts. Many U.S. hospitals are conducting VAE surveillance but uptake beyond the U.S. has been limited. Review of recent publications suggest three major barriers to the adoption of VAE surveillance and prevention: 1) ongoing uncertainty about VAE and concern about its limited overlap with clinically-defined VAP, 2) a paucity of studies defining risk factors for VAEs and how best to prevent VAEs, and 3) lack of emphasis on VAE surveillance and prevention by regulatory agencies. Emerging data partially address the first two points. Possible VAPs missed by VAE surveillance are associated with lower mortality rates than VAEs and have similar outcomes whether treated with ≤3 days of antibiotics or more conventional courses, suggesting VAE focuses surveillance on severe events. Potentially-modifiable VAE risk factors include deep sedation, positive fluid balance, blood transfusions, and mandatory modes of mechanical ventilation with high inspiratory pressures. Potential interventions to prevent VAEs include avoiding intubation, minimizing sedation, paired daily spontaneous awakening and breathing trials, conservative fluid management, conservative transfusion thresholds, low tidal volume ventilation, and early mobility. There are important limitations to all existing prevention studies, however, and no study has thus far has tested a VAE prevention bundle that includes all these interventions. Further work is needed to better define the clinical significance of VAPs missed by VAE surveillance, to rigorously evaluate the impact of an optimized VAE prevention bundle on VAEs and other outcomes, and to weigh whether these additional data provide adequate evidence to support mandating VAE surveillance and prevention.

Genomics of Corynebacterium striatum, an emerging multidrug-resistant pathogen of immunocompromised patients.

OBJECTIVES: Corynebacterium striatum is an emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen of immunocompromised and chronically ill patients. The objective of these studies was to provide a detailed genomic analysis of disease-causing C. striatum and determine the genomic drivers of resistance and resistance-gene transmission. METHODS: A multi-institutional and prospective pathogen genomics programme flagged seven MDR C. striatum infections occurring close in time, and specifically in immunocompromised patients with underlying respiratory diseases. Whole genome sequencing was used to identify clonal relationships among strains, genetic causes of antimicrobial resistance, and their mobilization capacity. Matrix-assisted linear desorption/ionization-time-of-flight analyses of sequenced isolates provided curated content to improve rapid clinical identification in subsequent cases. RESULTS: Epidemiological and genomic analyses identified a related cluster of three out of seven C. striatum among lung transplant patients who had common procedures and exposures at an outlying institution. Genomic analyses further elucidated drivers of the MDR phenotypes, including resistance genes mobilized by IS3504 and ISCg9a-like insertion sequences. Seven mobilizable resistance genes were localized to a common chromosomal region bounded by unpaired insertion sequences, suggesting that a single recombination event could spread resistance to aminoglycosides, macrolides, lincosamides and tetracyclines to naive strains. CONCLUSION: In-depth genomic studies of MDR C. striatum reveal its capacity for clonal spread within and across healthcare institutions and identify novel vectors that can mobilize multiple forms of drug resistance, further complicating efforts to treat infections in immunocompromised populations.

Bacterial ecology of hospital workers' facial hair: a cross-sectional study.

It is unknown whether healthcare workers' facial hair harbours nosocomial pathogens. We compared facial bacterial colonization rates among 408 male healthcare workers with and without facial hair. Workers with facial hair were less likely to be colonized with Staphylococcus aureus (41.2% vs 52.6%, P = 0.02) and meticillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (2.0% vs 7.0%, P = 0.01). Colonization rates with Gram-negative organisms were low for all healthcare workers, and Gram-negative colonization rates did not differ by facial hair type. Overall, colonization is similar in male healthcare workers with and without facial hair; however, certain bacterial species were more prevalent in workers without facial hair.